Beyond question, Clinton was supposed to close up, stay out of sight, and avoid second- guessing his wife’s boss. After his ego blustered into oncoming traffic during Hillary’s heated primary race (1) Obama, the nation suffered from yet another turn of Clinton fatigue.
(2) this week Bill Clinton showed an instinct for robust, inclusive leadership that the (3) White House occupant could make good use of right for the time being. With President Obama struggling to (4) the political damage from the Gulf oil spill, Clinton not only can’t help himself—he’s worth being listened.
The conventional-wisdom (5) on President Obama’s early reaction to the spill was (6) he didn’t emote enough. He didn’t feel the (7) of all those people in the crisis whose livelihood would be destroyed, whose clean waters and wildlife would be (8) in black gunk.
Clinton considers this is an unfair (9) but offers a different—and more pointed— lesson to his young successor. "I think we ought to (10) in the same boat for a while... Let’s just (11) the problem, and then we can hold everybody responsible and emote or not emote, " Clinton conversed (12) CNN Anchor Wolf Blitzer.
Obama’s first (13) after the oil spill was to "feel the blame" rather than "feel the pain, " which are pretty sarcastic words as it were. No one intends to let British Petroleum (BP) management (14) the hook—for dangerously cutting corners, and for a (15) safety record. However, the President’s (16) focus on scolding BP consumed (17) White House energy while the oil gushed.
Great leaders don’t rush to criticise; Instead they instinctively (18) solutions. Rudy Giuliani, who didn’t stop to blame (19) intelligence for letting it happen, stood out from New York mayor with a girlfriend problem to 9/11 hero when he took control of a crisis and instilled confidence that a ravaged city could (20) beyond a terrorist attack.
15（）
A.dismal
B.public
C.brief
D.incomplete
参考答案：A
解析：
[试题考点] 上下文语意关系与形容词词义辨析。
[解题思路] 本题空格位于由for引导的原因状语中，空格处需填入一个形容词修饰safety record。该句主句意为“没人打算让英国石油公司逃脱责任(no one intends to let BP off the hook)”，原因状语从句意为“由于他们不计后果的走捷径(dangerously cutting corners)，以及其______的安全记录”。既然如今出现漏油事故，并且他们不计后果走捷径，这说明其安全记录不好，四个选项中，只有选项[A]dismal“差劲的，不怎么样的”符合义意。
[干扰排除] 选项[B]public意为“公共的；公用的”，选项[C]brief意为“简短的；简洁的”，选项[D]incomplete意为“不完整的”，虽能与record构成搭配，但代入该原因状语中，均无法与主句成合理的因果关系，故排除。